ISLAMABAD: Campaigning and canvassing outside polling stations and persistent minor procedural irregularities in PP-206 (Khanewal-IV) by-election reinforced the need for stricter implementation of the election law and procedures, said the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) on Thursday.

Four political parties – the PML-N, PTI, PPPP and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) – had fielded candidates for the by-election, while seven others contested independently. Albeit lower than the 57 per cent during the 2018 general elections, the turnout in PP-206 remained impressive as compared to less than 19pc in the recently held NA-133 (Lahore-XI) by-poll.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of a PML-N MPA. The by-election came under the spotlight after the parties announced their candidates – the PTI nominee in the 2018 polls ran from the PML-N platform, while the widow of the deceased PML-N MPA received the PTI ticket. There were media reports of a clash between the supporters of PML-N and PPPP on Dec 15, a day before the election. The PPPP candidate alleged an attack on his residence by PML-N workers, and registered a case with the police. The PML-N, on the other hand, alleged the PPPP had indulged in vote buying.

Fafen had deployed 30 observers for 120 out of the total 183 polling stations across the constituency. Its preliminary report is based on the observations received from 82 polling stations.

The observers reported the polling day remained peaceful with no major incident, however, seven of them were barred from observing the electoral process. At one polling station (PS-70), the presiding officer (PO) continuously interrupted the observation.

According to the observers, one of the most common illegalities remained the campaigning and canvassing by candidates outside 85pc of the observed polling stations. At 29pc of the observed polling stations, the POs had not removed the campaigning material on their outer walls, while at four others the material was found pasted inside the premises. The polling material was found scarce at two polling stations. The PO at one polling station did not seek signatures of polling agents on Form-42 after showing them empty ballot boxes before the start of polling, as required by the law. Similarly, at two polling stations, the POs did not show the empty ballot boxes to polling agents.

At two polling stations, voters were not allowed to vote despite possessing original identity cards. At two others, the assistant presiding officers (APOs) were found not stamping the back of the ballot papers while issuing them to voters, while at five stations the APOs were observed not signing the back of the ballot papers. Such ballot papers are excluded from the count at the polling station, and later rejected by the returning officers during consolidation of results.

At one polling station, unauthorised persons were found present inside the polling booth. At 43pc of the observed polling stations, the Covid-19 SOPs were not duly followed.

The ECP had set up 183 polling stations – 62 male, 60 female and 61 combined – in the constituency, while the number of registered voters in the constituency was 230,698 – 125,190 men and 105,508 women.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2021